Everyday Superhero
by PimmyJalmer
Summary: When Gibbs and his team are taken hostage in there own building, its up to two unnoticed people to save them
1. Chapter 1

Cynthia Sumners parked her car in the parking lot outside the NCIS building. She quickly glanced at her watch; it was 08:00, and she was late. Her car had broken down on the side of the road in the middle of the morning downpour and it was hard to jump-start her car in the rain. She turned and saw that she wasn't the only one late that morning.

Jimmy Palmer was running towards the building, still tying his tie. Dr. Mallard was going to have his neck, all because the power went out at Jimmy's house and his alarm clock never went off. Stopping for breath, he leaned against a tree and saw Cynthia staring at him.

"Uh... uh hi, Cynthia." he said.

"Hi Jimmy. Bad morning?" Cynthia asked, coming over to the tree.

"Yeah. The power went off in my apartment and my alarm clock never went off. Is it a bad morning for you to?" Jimmy asked, staring at Cynthia's outfit. She was wearing a NCIS black shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants.

"My car got stuck in the pouring rain this morning, and I tripped and fell into a puddle." the assistant side, tying her hair back into a bun. "It's a good thing I keep spare clothing in my desk. Once I get inside, I think I'll feel better about coming into work in scrubs."

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah. We'd better get going. Dr. Mallard and I have two autopsies to do, and now that I'm late he's going to have my neck."

"Ducky won't kill you, Jimmy. He's a good guy, he'll understand."

"Yeah. Let's get going." Palmer said. Cynthia nodded and they both made their way to the entrance of NCIS. Jimmy pulled on one of the doors and found it locked. "That's odd," he said, looking around on the door. "Is it some kind of unofficial holiday?"

"I don't think so, or we would have been told about it." Cynthia said. She looked around. "And nobody's outside today either. I don't see any of the guards this morning."

"Let's go in around back, through Autopsy," Jimmy considered, and they made their way around the building to the door. Jimmy pulled on the handle; this door was locked, too.

"Doctor Mallard? Hello? It's Jimmy!" Jimmy said, pounding on the door.

"Maybe it is a holiday. No, it couldn't be." Cynthia murmured to herself. "How are we going to get inside?" she asked, looking over at Jimmy.

Jimmy was gazing up at the building. "We could go through a window," he offered.

"You can't be serious. Are you?" Cynthia asked, astonished. She was surprised that Palmer could come up with an idea like that, let alone finish a sentence without shuddering.

"No, I am. I'll hoist you up, and you go through that window," he said, pointing to the window closest to the ground, "and then you can open the door and let me in."

"And why do you think that I would stand on your shoulders?"

Jimmy gulped. "I...uh... don't know."

"I'm just kidding with you, Jimmy, it's a good idea," Cynthia said thoughtfully, staring at the window. "Now that you look at it, it's not that high up." She turned to Jimmy. "Get down on your knees."

"What? Why?" Jimmy asked. He didn't know where Cynthia got her sudden burst of courage. Then again, he didn't really know her that well, but when they passed in the hallway he could have sworn that she was shy. It was almost like Cynthia never left the office.

"So I can stand on your back. It was your idea." Cynthia said, putting her notebook and slipping her PDA into her pocket. For some reason, she wanted to make sure that everything was okay inside the building. When she turned back Jimmy was still standing there, shocked. "Are you going to get down?"

"Oh...yeah," Jimmy said. He went next to the building and got down on his knees, bending over so that Cynthia could climb up. Cynthia went over and stood on his back.

"I need to get higher, Jimmy." she said, her fingertips almost touching the windowpane.

"I can't," Jimmy said from down below, agony in his voice.

"What's wrong?" Cynthia asked.

"You forgot to take off your heels and now there digging into my back!" he groaned.

"C'mon, Jimmy, suck it up and lift me higher." Cynthia said. "I'm almost touching the window."

With a groan, Jimmy lifted her up higher and she grasped onto the windowpane. Jimmy watched her disappear out of sight as she crawled through the window.

Cynthia entered the Autopsy room. The room was empty, Dr. Mallard's scalpel was lying on the floor, abandoned, and there was a body out on the table. Cynthia forced herself not to look at it as she went to towards the door to get Jimmy. As she walked over, she noticed that Ducky's medical table was knocked over, spewing human liquids all over the floor.

"Dr. Mallard? Ducky? Hello?" Cynthia called out, but all she got was her voice echoing back against the cold, empty room. She was at the door by now, and she opened it up to find Jimmy outside, pacing back and forth.

"Aw, were you worried about me, Jimmy?" she asked. Jimmy jumped when she spoke and he looked at her as she said, "You look tense."

"No, I'm just thinking about where everyone is," Jimmy said, brushing past her as he went into Autopsy. Cynthia followed and shut the door behind her. Jimmy took in the scene. "Did you see Dr. Mallard?" he asked.

Cynthia shook her head. "No. It looks like no one is here. Well, Ducky started without you, by the looks of the body and the fluids on the floor."

"Then what happened?" Jimmy asked himself as he looked around. The scalpel on the floor, the fluids, the body....

"Maybe the Director knows," Cynthia said. She looked towards the door to the hallway. "Want to go check?" she asked, tense. Her eyes darted back to the doors, where the elevator was. She had a bad feeling about what was going on upstairs. Part of her wanted Jimmy to say, 'Nah, it's probably nothing'.

"Sure." Jimmy said. Dr. Mallard almost never left Autopsy, and if anyone knew, it would be the Director. Special Agent Gibbs always knew where everyone was. If he didn't, he usually found out. And if anything had happened to either one of them, Jimmy wanted to help. Even if it meant running and screaming at the top of his lungs for help. Jimmy kept that on his mind as the two went out to the elevator. Cynthia hit the call button. "Wait, I'll be right back," Jimmy said and scuffled back into the room. Cynthia sighed and when the elevator came Jimmy came back with a baseball bat.

"Jimmy, a baseball bat?" Cynthia asked as Jimmy came into the elevator with her.

"Yeah. You never know," Jimmy said, shrugging his shoulders.

_That's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that? I should have brought my pepper spray. But no, it's in the trunk of my car,_ Cynthia thought, mentally cursing herself as the elevator doors closed.


	2. Chapter 2

The elevator was rising up to the main level, the bullpen, where Cynthia was sure that they were all there. And that nothing was wrong at all, and that she and Jimmy were just overreacting. She closed her eyes and started breathing deeply. Suddenly, the elevator stopped moving. Cynthia looked over and saw Jimmy had flipped the emergency switch. His knuckles were turning white against the baseball bat in his hands from gripping it so tightly.

"You okay, Jimmy?" Cynthia asked. Jimmy jumped at the sound of her voice. "Uh, yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You flipped the emergency switch." Cynthia said as she pointed at the little switch under the level buttons.

"I just need a minute," Jimmy said, trying to relax his grip on the baseball bat in his hands.

"Why? Everything is going to be fine." Cynthia said, her hands casually sliding into her pockets.

"It might not be fine. We could open up the doors and walk into the bullpen and find everyone on the ground with their brains blasted out of their skulls. Or they could all be bleeding out onto the floor and-"

"Jimmy, stop," she said, pulling the baseball bat from his hands and carefully set it on the ground by their feet. "It's going to be fine." Even as she said this, she was also getting nervous, making her stomach create the feeling of nausea. She flipped the switch back and the elevator started moving again, and she didn't even care that Jimmy had picked back up his beloved baseball bat.

The elevator doors opened to a darkened bullpen. The only light was the three lamps light on DiNozzo, McGee, and Ziva's desks. Jimmy was about to call out when Cynthia put her hand over his mouth. "Shh..." she whispered, and the two of them crouched down low and scurried into Agent Pacci's old cubicle.

"What are we doing here? We should find them," Jimmy whispered, barely audible, his eyes uncomfortably looking down at his baseball bat.

Cynthia raised her head so that she could see into the bullpen. Her eyes just barely made it over the cubicle wall. She couldn't see anything. It was too dark. There wasn't enough light for her to see if they were there or not.

"Give me your scalpel," She said to Jimmy.

Jimmy looked confused. "What do you want that for?"

Cynthia sighed and whispered back. "Just give me it, Jimmy. Don't make me forcibly take it from you. Jimmy Choos can hurt if you smack someone over the head with them."

"You can afford Jimmy Choos?"

"Just give me it already!" Cynthia said, glaring. Jimmy handed it over without any more arguing and Cynthia jabbed the sharp edge of the scalpel into the wall of the desk divider. Slowly she carved an outline of a medium size hole with the sharp instrument. She handed it back to Jimmy. "Now, give me your baseball bat."

"What? You want that too? Come on, use your shoes. Stop taking stuff from me!"

"I paid good money for these. Hell no. Give me the bat."

Jimmy sighed. "This is the last time, okay?"

"I get it. Now hand it over." Cynthia said. Jimmy gave her the bat and she took the bottom of it in her hand. She pointed the top of it at the outline.

"What the he-"Jimmy whispered, but before he could answer Cynthia smashed the top of the bat against the wall. To his amazement, the bat had knocked out the outline part of the wall, leaving a medium sized hole for them to look through without making any noise.

"Wow, that worked better than I thought it would," Cynthia whispered to Jimmy in awe.

It was still hard to see through the hole so they had to look one at a time. Cynthia went first and leaned her head against the wall to look out of it. Jimmy heard her gasp as she looked through it.

"What's going on?" He whispered.

She turned back to look at him. "They're being held hostage."

**Aren't hostage situations so wonderful? I love them. They give me that warm, bubbly feeling of pure evil. I know that there are a lot of things that are confusing. **

**Jen is the Director of NCIS. I haven't got around to fix the typo yet, so sorry. I know you want to know: How did they get in the bullpen without being heard, even though the elevator dinged? It will all be reveled next chapter!**

**Please review or I'll… do something. I'll kill off one of the main characters!!!**

**I need at least **2** reviews, taking it to a total of 5. I'm being nice.**

**If not… someone will pay!!!**

**MUHAHAHAHA (cough) **

**-Ashley ******


	3. Chapter 3

"What? What do you mean their being held hostage? People like Agent Gibbs and… Tony DiNozzo doesn't get taken held hostage! Their federal agents, for God's sake!" Jimmy whispered loudly to Cynthia. The two of them were still crouched down in Agent's Pacci's old desk cubicle.

"I know what you mean, Jimmy, but take a look for yourself," Cynthia said, scooting over so Jimmy could take a look through the hole. Jimmy adjusted his grip on his baseball bat, and then looked through the hole. What he saw shocked him. It was hard to see because it appeared that someone had killed the lights and there were only a few desk lights on, but Jimmy could still see their faces clearly.

Closet to the hole sat Agent McGee. He was sitting against the wall, pieces of duck tape wrapped around his wrists and his ankles. His hands were placed in his lap and he was sitting Indian style. He appeared unharmed, but the look on his face was pure terror. Sitting directly next to him was Abby, who was wrapped in a similar fashion. She had her knees against her chest and her tapped arms wrapped around them. She was leaning her head on McGee's shoulder, silently sobbing, tears running down her face. The two of them were sitting right in between Ziva and Gibb's desks.

Across from them, between Tim and Tony's desks, sat Agent Gibbs, Director Sheppard, and Doctor Mallard. Agent Gibbs sat next to Tim's desk. He was leaning against the wall, his head staring up at the ceiling, as if it was giving him the answers that he knew weren't there. His face showed confusion, and maybe guilt. He didn't look frightened but Jimmy knew that Gibbs wasn't the one to show his emotions. Right next to him was Director Sheppard. She seemed to be the only one who was calm. Her green eyes darted back and forth along the bullpen, hoping for an answer. She sat Indian style with her elbows resting on her knees. She would sigh occasionally, apparently annoyed. Sitting next to her was Dr. Mallard. He was sitting like McGee, only his face showing no emotion, not even calm.

Sitting in front of Tony's desk was Agent DiNozzo and David. Tony was sitting closer to Ducky. He and Ziva were bound different than the others. They both had the duck tape around there wrists and ankles, but also around their legs. Another rope of duck tape went around their arms at their elbows, pinning their arms to their sides. Tony had a black eye and his wrist look slightly off color. He continually opened his mouth, attempting to make a joke, but he always closed it before anything came out. Next to him was Ziva. She had a large cut going from the corner of her left eye down to her chin. Her arms were in front of her, in her lap, but Jimmy could see that they had placed two pairs of handcuffs around her wrists, locking her in place.

"Why are they just sitting there?" Jimmy asked silently to Cynthia, once he turned away from the hole to look at her.

"It might have something to do with the man sitting in Agent David's chair," Cynthia said, pointing out a man in Ziva's chair. He was looking at the computer screen with a morbid interest. Jimmy could see what was on the screen. It was the NCIS official database. It contained all evidence logs, autopsy reports, case files, and secret weapon locations.

"This is probably why they got into the building in the first place. They want some kind of information that the program from NCIS only has." Cynthia said, looking at Jimmy with a face of horror.

"Why do you think DiNozzo and David are wrapped differently?" Cynthia asked.

"You noticed that too? Judging by their injuries, I'd say that DiNozzo's hand is broke. Ziva's gash looks like something made from a sharp object or blade, maybe a knife. They fought back." Jimmy said, frowning while deep in thought.

"What are you thinking?" Cynthia asked.

"It doesn't make sense at all. Why would they be to only two who thought back? Agent Gibbs isn't the one to just sit there. The only way that would happen is if-"

"-they held someone at gunpoint," Cynthia said, coming to the same conclusion as Jimmy. "That would make sense."

"The question is," Jimmy said quietly, "is how they even got inside the building in the first place.

"Who cares how they got in? We just need to give them out. We don't know if he has accomplices or not." Cynthia said.

"Well, he hasn't noticed us yet. The elevator didn't ring because it's broken. The buttons don't light up or something like that. Mechanics was supposed to fix it today." Jimmy said. He took another look through the hole to look at the intruder. "What if we knock him out?" He asked Cynthia.

"What? Knock him out? We need to know if he has accomplices first. If we knock him out we won't know what he's here for. That's a bad idea."

"We can't just leave them here while we run off playing hero!"

"We're not playing hero! We're trying to get everyone out of here safely and deliver justice," Cynthia said, frowning.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas," Jimmy said, staring at her. They were silent for a few moments as they debated the situation in their heads.

Finally Cynthia spoke. "Okay, so we knock him out. What do we do then?"

Jimmy paused. "We…uh free the others… and then see what he was looking at on the computer. Or…we uh forget knocking him out and… yeah I don't know."

"Just do it. Just do it and get it over with." Cynthia said. "So we can just free the others and forget like this ever happened and nobody gets seriously hurt."

Jimmy sighed. He picked up his baseball bat and slid it carefully a few inches out of the hole. He lined it up with the back of the intruder's head. He looked over to Cynthia, who gave him a nod of encouragement. Jimmy took a deep breath and lunged. The man at the desk didn't see it coming. Jimmy's shot was dead on; it struck the man square in the back of the head and he fell over with a thump. He pulled the baseball bat back through the hole, and the two sat there for a moment in uncomfortable silence. That's when they heard someone speak.

"What just happened?" McGee said. He was the closest to the intruder. The man had fallen dangerously close to where the two had been sitting and McGee looked around the bullpen but didn't see anyone with any kind of weapon.

"Hello?" Tony said, looking around with McGee. "Is anyone there? If there is, can you order a pizza? No, wait, untie us first!"

Gibbs looked at the Director and shrugged. "What the hell is going on around here?" He took a look around the bullpen. "Show yourself!"

McGee had scooted over on his butt towards where the man had fallen and placed a hand on his neck. His eyes grew wide as he looked back up. "I think he's… dead." That's when the team in the bullpen heard a voice that didn't come from anyone there. That they knew of.

"See! I knew it! I told you, we should have just went and got help!" The mysterious voice said. Gibbs recognized it as a female. The pitch was too high for a male.

"Relax, I didn't kill him." Said a second voice. This one was male, and seemed timid.

"Relax? How do you know if you killed him or not! We're not even looking at the body!" The first voice said, annoyed.

"I know how hard I hit him. It was just hard enough to render him unconscious. McGee probably has his hand on the wrong side of the man's neck."

At the mention of his name McGee immediately switched sides and checked again. "He's right. There's a pulse."

That's when the two figures stood up and quickly walked towards the entrance of the bullpen. As soon as they entered the bullpen the team gasped.

"Jimmy?" Dr. Mallard asked. That's when he saw the color of his assistant's face. It was pale, and his hands were shaking as he grasped the crude weapon of the baseball bat. Jimmy just nodded in the direction of Dr. Mallard.

"Jimmy, that actually worked," Said the other figure. When she stepped into the light it was the Director who spoke first.

"Cynthia?"

"Yes ma'am."

"What the hell?" The Director said, looking between her assistant, Jimmy, and the man unconscious on the ground not too far away.

"We'll explain everything later, ma'am. Just let us get you out of here." She quickly began to work on the bounds that were wrapped around there co-worker's wrists. Jimmy, on the other hand, went over to check on the unconscious man that he had knocked out with the bat.

"Jimmy, he's fine. Just get over here and help me," Cynthia said. Jimmy went over to Abby and started on her wrists.

"You okay?" He asked her.

Abby nodded. "I should be the one asking you. You look like you were trapped on the Merry-Go-Round all night." She chuckled at her own joke.

Cynthia was almost done with the Director's wrists when she heard something that made her stop cold.

Footsteps. Very loud, close by footsteps.

"I wouldn't be doing that if I were you," A new voice said. They all looked over to see the unconscious man had gotten up, and in his hand was a gun. He pointed his gun first at Jimmy, then at Cynthia.

"Stop what you're doing and stand up." The intruder said. They both stood up uncertainly.

"Shit," Cynthia said. The intruder looked over at her. While he wasn't looking, Jimmy grabbed a rubber band of Gibb's desk. "This sucks."

"You really think you could save them? Well," The intruder said his finger ready on the trigger. "I think you're wrong." He went to pull the trigger. Cynthia closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact.

Just then he fell over in pain. Cynthia opened her eyes and saw that a scalpel was sticking out of the man's leg. She looked over and saw that Jimmy had propelled the scalpel off the rubber band he had snatched.

"Nice one Jimmy," Cynthia said.

"All right Autopsy Gremlin!" Tony said happily. The happiness was ruined, though, when the man started to get up.

"Run, Jimmy, run!" Cynthia shouted as the man was almost up.

"We'll be back, okay, I promise." Jimmy said quickly.

Then they ran.

**So, how was that? I was surprised to see that I got 5 reviews in a matter of a couple hours. Which makes me very happy. :)**

**Now… (sorry I'm being mean again) I really want to know what you thought about this chapter. SO I'm asking for to get to **10** reviews, which isn't a lot considering I'm on the third chapter. So be nice. My review button is crying because it is neglected.**

**And you really don't want to see a bomb go off and everyone die, do you?**

**LOL**

**-Ashley**


	4. Chapter 4

Jimmy Palmer had never run so fast in his entire life. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and the baseball bat was clutched tightly in his shaking left hand. His legs were moving faster than he had ever thought possible as they ran out of the main room towards the staircase.

Cynthia pushed the doors open with outstretched palms and almost jumped down the first flight of stairs. Her hair had fallen out of its bun and was now flying around in her face, covering her eyes. In desperation she had ripped off her Jimmy Choos and they now sat abandoned by the entrance of the stairwell.

She and Jimmy ran all the way down till the steps stopped. They paused a moment for breath.

"Do you think we lost him?" Jimmy asked, whipping his sweaty hands against his pant legs.

"Shh," Cynthia said, gesturing to the stairs they had just climbed down, "listen to see if there are any footsteps." Jimmy's face paled as he quieted, his hands tightening more –if it was even possible at the rate he was- around the baseball bat. When they were both quiet they listened closely to hear any steps. When there wasn't any they sighed with relief. "Thank God. I thought we were done for."

"We _were_ almost done for," Jimmy said, shaking his head slightly. "You were right. We should have called in for help instead of doing this on our own."

"Jimmy," Cynthia said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I just said that because I thought you killed him. You're probably right. We should have called the cops. That sounds weird because we _are_ the cops, but now we're stuck here anyhow. We must as well give it our all. Even if all we have is your baseball bat and I don't have any shoes," Cynthia remarked, chuckling at bit at the last part.

"Was that supposed to be a pep-talk?" Jimmy asked, smiling.

"If you think it was, you go right ahead. I'm just trying to stay positive," Cynthia said. She sighed and removed her hand from Jimmy's shoulder, then gestured to the only door in sight. "Let's get moving. We have no idea what to do and I say we go through this door and get a plan."

Jimmy shrugged. "What do we have to lose except my baseball bat… and my shoes?"

Cynthia laughed at his poor excuse for a joke and they opened the doorway cautiously. It led to the evidence garage. They stepped inside and looked around. When they saw no-one they relaxed and went towards the center of the room. Cynthia sat down in one of the chairs and flexed her sore feet while Jimmy set his baseball bat down on the counter and began looking around.

"What are you looking for?" Cynthia asked as she rubbed one of her feet.

"Food. I didn't get a chance to eat this morning, so I'm famished." Jimmy said, indicating to a small refrigerator sitting in the corner. He went over and looked inside of it. It was filled with protein bars and plastic bottles filled with soda. He grabbed a few of the protein bars and two sodas and brought them over to a table close by to wear Cynthia was sitting. "Well, it's not a healthy meal, but we need some kind of carbohydrates," Jimmy said, opening a protein bar and taking a bite.

Cynthia grabbed the bottle of soda and started drinking. The bottle was halfway gone when she put it back down on the table. Her face looked almost disgusted.

"What's wrong? The soda bad? Well, soda can't be bad…but…" Jimmy said, his voice trailing off.

"Nothing's wrong. I just don't drink soda that often." Cynthia said, pushing the bottle away and opening her bar.

"Oh, you one of those health nuts?"

"You could call it that. I'm a vegetarian." Cynthia said as she chewed her protein bar.

"Well, soda isn't meat, so you could drink that."

"Well, it's got twenty grams of empty sugars and starches and it destroys your teeth. I'll stick with the water next time."

"But it has energy in it, and right now I need all the energy I can get," Jimmy said, taking another sip of his soda.

"That's your choice. I feel better just getting some food in me. Whatever floats your boat," Cynthia said, finishing off her bar and stuffing the wrapper into her sweatpants pocket.

"So what's the plan?" Jimmy asked as he screwed his cap back onto his soda bottle.

"I don't know. I majored in Accounting. I don't know how to plan a rescue missing," Cynthia said, grabbing an old blueprint off one of the shelves and flipped it over. With a white marker that she found she quickly drew an example of the bullpen on the blue paper. She drew the four desks and put an X on Ziva's.

"Okay," Cynthia said, pointing at the paper with the marker. "This is the bullpen. Go with me here, I stink at drawling. The X represents Agent David's desk, where our creepo I working on his evil plot to rule the world."

"Agent Gibbs was there," He said, pointing next to McGee's desk. "Director Sheppard was next to him, and Dr. Mallard was beside her. Tony and Ziva are in front of Tony's desk, bound with handcuffs and extra tape. McGee is in the middle of Ziva and Gibb's desks, but closer to Ziva's. Abby is next to him," Jimmy said, pointing out the spots on the map. "The hole we made it right here along Agent Pacci's old cubicle and we can tell that he was trying to hack into the NCIS main computer files."

Cynthia looked over at him. "You remembered all of that?"

Jimmy smiled modestly. "I have a semi-photographic memory. I can remember things, but they're all fuzzy most of the time. For some reason they were clear when I tried to remember this time. Maybe because I was trying to memorize where everyone was in such a hurry the info just stayed."

"That's good. That will help. And don't be so modest, Jimmy. It's a good talent. You shouldn't keep it hidden like that," Cynthia said, staring back at the blueprint. "Back to the plan. Now, we are assuming that our guy is alone. We need to get into the bullpen, restrain the creepo and free the others-"

"-You make it sound so easy-"

"-And our plan needs to be efficient and effective in a way that it will not get anyone harmed-"

"-That would be bad-"

"-Or killed-"

"-that would be really, really bad," Jimmy said.

Cynthia continued rambling on for a few minutes, figuring out a plan. "I have an idea."

"What is it?" Jimmy asked. Cynthia quickly explained the idea to him and his eyes widened. "Won't that be risky?"

"Everything we do from now on will be risky, Jimmy." Cynthia said. "We just have to hope that we don't die."

"'Cause that would be bad."

"Yes, it would." Cynthia said. She turned and looked at Jimmy. "Are you ready?"

"No, not really," He answered. Jimmy picked up his bat and gripped the handle. "But if we don't do this now I don't think I ever will."

Cynthia smiled. "Watch out, creepo. Here we come."

**I am so happy that you guys gave me 10 reviews! I am so happy that you like the story! I am so happy because you guys are happy!**

**How many reviews am I asking for? Since you're so nice, I'll let you review freely. But if I don't get any reviews... I might have to cave into the vibe that is telling me to tie Abby to a railroad track!**

**Also, if anyone wants to adopt my Review button, let me know when you review. He's lonely Aww… :( **

**-Ashley**


	5. Chapter 5

Jimmy stood readily in the elevator. His palms were sweating at an alarming rate and he wiped his forehead dry with the sleeve of his scrubs. There plan was about to be put in motion. There was no fail back plan, no going back. As soon as he stepped out of that elevator, all hell was going to break loose. He'd have to stay calm and try not to for a puddle out of his sweat. Cynthia's plan was genius, but it was incredibly risky. She herself was probably more in danger then he was.

The elevator sent out its normal _ding_, far too fast for Jimmy's liking. He took a deep breath as the elevator doors opened and stepped out into the dimmed lighting of the third floor. His breathing was picking up speed. In, out, in, out. Putting on a serious face, he stepped confidently into the recessed lighting of the bullpen and froze.

There were now two other men standing with the one that had chased them out of the bullpen earlier. They were big and muscular, and compared to Jimmy it would have been obvious who would have won in a wrestling match. Jimmy gulped.

This was not part of the plan. Now, it was going to go horribly wrong.

They looked up, surprised to see him. "Well, well," said one. "It looks like the little frady-cat has come out to play." He grinned, looking back at the other two, smiles coming up onto their grim faces. Jimmy eyed them up and down. Two had a knife, and of course the more recognizable one had the gun which almost killed Cynthia. Pure terror washed through him; without his scalpel he was totally defenseless.

"I'd-I'd would not think that if I were you," Jimmy said, stuttering slightly. "I-I know karate and ju-judo," he bluffed. Though it wasn't entirely false either; up until a few years ago he had his black belt. Going back to school had made it harder to get to practice and soon he stopped all together.

Dr. Mallard was staring at his assistant wondrously. _What are you doing, you fool? Get out of here now!_, Ducky's eyes said, and Jimmy forced himself to turn away after giving all of them a reassuring smile.

They laughed at him. "Of course you did, puny man." Jimmy clenched his fist, his nails pushing into his palm.

"Let's stop messing around and kill the bastard. We need to get out of here," Said one of the men with the knives. Gun man nodded and raised the gun at Jimmy, who was unexpectedly smiling.

"Ready to die?" He asked Jimmy.

Jimmy's eyes glazed over. "You wish."

Unknown to everyone in the room except for Jimmy, Cynthia was putting part two into action. Jimmy had just said the code word, "You wish," and now it was time to end this, once and for all. She was up in the air conditioning unit pipes that lined up along the ceiling. With a small smile she quickly pushed a button that was concealed in her left hand. As soon as she heard the hissing sound confirming that the machine was working, she held her breathe and counted to five. Then with a scalpel they had grabbed earlier she quickly cut through the aluminum piping and attached a rope to the inside.

The room quickly filled up with smoke. The intruders looked, up, alarmed, and an alarm boomed out loudly "Air toxin released. Air toxin released," over and over again. Jimmy quickly formed a fist and smacked the guy in front with it. Cynthia slid down the rope and quickly fell to the ground with ease. She ran over to help Jimmy, kicking one of the men in the balls with her bare feet. It would've helped if she had taken the time to get her high heels, but they figured the quicker the better.

One of the guys gripped Jimmy quickly from behind and tossed him over, smacking him against the floor. Jimmy gasped quickly and kicked the man's foot out from under him, sending him to the ground. He looked over at Cynthia, who was struggling with the other two and ran over, jumping on the one's back.

"This-isn't working- very well," Jimmy sputtered, trying to take down one of the guy while the other had Cynthia in a headlock and was kicking his back.

"You think?" Cynthia said. She dug her nails into the man's arm and he yelped, tightening the grip around her neck. She stabbed the intruder with the scalpel that was still in her hand and he fell to the ground, taking her down with him. She struggled to get out and came up with her sleeve ripped, the man on the floor in pain.

"Enough!" Someone shouted. Jimmy knocked the man to the ground and they both turned. The third man had the gun, and it was pointed straight at Cynthia. "I'm sick of this. I'll blow all of your brains out, and then we'll be leaving. I'll start with the bitch who gave me a black eye," he said, his eyes narrowing at Cynthia.

Jimmy looked around furiously, looking for something to help when he finally saw it in the corner. Agent McGee's gun. The man saw it to, and before Jimmy could help it he was driving towards the gun as a shot went off in the air. Jimmy grabbed the gun and turned around just in time to see Cynthia fall to the ground, blood spewing from her chest.

"NO!" Jimmy screamed. The rest seemed to go in slow motion. Without any hesitation, he raised the gun and fired at the intruder, the same time two bullets hit him, one in the chest, the other in the leg. He fell to the ground, creating a stunning silence. He was able to lift his head for a moment, and watched through blurry vision as Gibbs cut himself free using the scalpel that he had pulled from the man's leg before it went totally black.

"Jimmy?" Abby asked. "Jimmy? Wake up, wake up!"

Ducky had rushed over to his assistant on the floor and Jenny had fallen to her knees beside Cynthia. Gibbs finished cutting everyone free and had picked up the gun that Jimmy had dropped. He quickly walked around and shot all the intruders in the head, not caring about the paperwork.

"There's a weak pulse. Someone call an ambulance," Jenny said sternly. Tony nodded and quickly brought out his cell phone. Jenny turned to attention to Jimmy. She could tell that there were two bullet wounds. "He's been shot to. Twice," she said, looking up at Agent Gibbs.

looked at Jimmy with sad eyes. He put a hand on Jimmy's good shoulder. "Mr. Palmer? Jimmy? Can you hear us?" There was no response. checked his pulse, and was alarmed when he couldn't find one.

"I can't find a pulse," he said. Abby immediately burst into tears at the sight of Jimmy's body. She put her head back on McGee's shoulder, who patted her back gently.

"Check again," Abby said, her eyes burning a whole into Ducky's forehead.

"Abby, there's no-"

"I don't care! Jimmy is not dead! He's not! Check again!" Abby was hysterical.

Ducky sighed then checked again. A smile filled his face. "We have a pulse." McGee heard the ambulance outside and ran out to meet them, Abby following at his heels. Jenny looked down at her fallen assistant and sighed. _I bet Cynthia didn't sign up for this when she joined NCIS_.

Medical personal then came out of the elevator with McGee and Abby close behind. They quickly went over to Jimmy and Cynthia on the ground and forced the others away so that they could get started. One of the men offered to clean up Gibbs, but he brushed them off to watch the scene. They were a part of his team, too. Jenny allowed her arm to be bandaged as long as she could stay close by. The medical workers quickly strapped Jimmy and Cynthia onto gurneys. They both had oxygen masks strapped over their faces and several people were trying to stop the bleeding while they made their way towards the stairway. Tony went over and held the door open for them as they made their way down. One of the workers stayed behind, looking at all the blood.

"What happened here?" he asked.

Gibbs was the one who answered. "A shootout."

The man nodded. "One of you can ride in the ambulance, if you want to. Meet us outside in a few minutes," he said before quickly following his partners down the staircase. Gibbs watched the staircase for a few minutes before turning back to the team.

"It's been a long morning. Go home," he told them. Several of them started complaining as he shoved them into the elevator. Ducky, Gibbs, and Jenny were the only people left in the bullpen."Well, Duck, you going to go in the ambulance or is Director Sheppard?" he asked, looking at the two of them. Ducky and Jen both looked at each other.

"Ducky can go. I'll be there soon anyway," Jenny said finally. Ducky nodded and went towards the elevator. A few minutes later it was just the two of them.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked. Director Shepard was looking out the window.

"Two of our people got shot," she said coolly, looking at him.

"I noticed." he said. He looked at her. "Promise me that you'll go home for a while before going to the hospital."

Jenny's eyes looked sad. "Okay, Jethro. What are you, my babysitter?" she joked with him, turning to the staircase. Gibbs watched her go and sighed at the sight of the four bodies in the bullpen. He pulled out his cell phone and called a number.

"Tobias, Gibbs. How would you like to invade NCIS's privacy?" he asked, smiling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***

Two hours later Gibbs found himself going into the hospital. He approached the front desk. "I need to know where I can find Cynthia Sumners and Jimmy Palmer," he said, showing his badge.

The scrawny kid behind the desk sighed at the sight of his bag."Not another one," he said sourly, looking at the computer screen.

"What?" Gibbs asked. "Who else came here with a badge?"

"A hysterical female who emptied her purse on my countertop so that she could find her I.D. Total Goth, black lipstick and all. An older guy came with the two people from NCIS and is out in the waiting room with the Goth. Oh, and another woman came in here to. Red head, pixie short hair. Nice body for someone her age," he said as he pointed down the hall.

Gibbs thanked him and walked down the hallway and wasn't surprised to find Abby, Ducky, and Jen there. Abby was asleep in a chair, her head leaning on Ducky's shoulder. Ducky was staring at the wall in anticipation and annoyance. Director Shepard was checking something on her PDA but she and Ducky looked up when Gibbs approached them.

"We were wondering when you were going to get here, Jethro," Ducky said. Gibbs sat down next to the Director in one of the stupid, hard, plastic hospital chairs.

"There part of my team, to, Duck," he said. "Any word yet?"

"No. All we know is that Palmer and Cynthia are still in surgery." Director Shepard said, looking down the hallway towards the Emergency Surgery rooms.

"Anyone call their family?" Gibbs asked.

"Jimmy's mother and father are on an Arctic Cruse up by Alaska. The next time they can dock is in about three days. We couldn't get contact with Jimmy's brother. We couldn't get anyone for Cynthia. She lives alone, and we couldn't get contact of her family." Ducky said sourly.

"Who's next in kin on her paperwork?" Gibbs asked. Jen looked over.

"I am. Apparently, she doesn't get along with her parents to well."

Gibbs nodded. He understood that. Abby woke up and looked over at Gibbs with an anxious face. "Is there any news yet?" she asked him. Gibbs shook his head and Abby sighed. She picked her head off Ducky's shoulder and murmured something about a bathroom. Gibbs watched her sulk away.

The time seemed to pass slowly as they waited for news. Gibbs went for coffee and grabbed a newspaper and sat there reading and rereading the same article over and over again. Ducky was off talking to a doctor on the third floor. Abby was constantly getting up and pacing around in a tight circle, then sitting back down and squeezing Bert, who she brought with him. This made her get amused faces from the staff as they passed by. Director Shepard was messing around with her PDA. She didn't notice how much notes Cynthia took until she looked at them all. She suddenly found some respect for her assistant.

Gibbs looked up when he saw footsteps and sighed when it was only Ziva. She was wearing her orange beanie hat, one of her sweaters, and a pair of jeans. She said down quietly next to Gibbs and was staring at the wall before pulling a set of clothing out of her bag and handed them to Abby. "I stopped at your apartment. I figured you would want some clean clothing." Abby looked down and saw that her white skull shirt was covered with blood.

"How did you get in? I locked my doors," she said, standing up, clothing under her arms.

"When has a lock stopped me before?" she said with a smug smile. Abby went off in search of the bathroom again. Abby was back a few minutes later looking refreshed and sat back down, squeezing Bert hard.

It was then that a doctor came over holding a clipboard. "Are you here for and Mr. Palmer?" he asked the group. Gibbs, Jen, and Ducky all stood up. Abby tossed Bert onto the seat and stared.

"How are they?" Ducky asked.

"Well, was shot once in the stomach and it pierced her stomach and liver, causing massive internal bleeding. We were able to repair it, but she's still sedated. She should make a full recovery. We'll have to keep a close eye on her in case the stitches break."

"What about Palmer?" Ziva asked.

"Mr. Palmer was shot twice. Once in the leg, and once in the shoulder. The one in his leg wasn't as bad as it seemed. It didn't pierce any ligaments or such. However, it still cased a lot of bleeding. The second bullet hit a main artery in the shoulder. We were able to remove the bullet, but he has lost a lot of blood. Until he gains his strength back up, were going to keep him sedated for awhile."

"So, they're going to live?" Abby said, jumping out of her chair happily.

"Yes, they'll be just fine," the doctor said calmly. Ducky shook the doctor's hand and he left. Abby picked up Bert and tossed him into the air, spinning around to catch him. It was the best news she had all day.

**So sorry! I've been running out of plot ideas. Since I was so mean, review freely. They will live!**

**-Ashley**


	6. Chapter 6

_Cynthia looked around the white room she was standing in. It was totally empty, except for a door on the far side of the room. It was locked. She figured it out when she pulled on the handle and it wouldn't move. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear voices every now and then when she focused hard enough. She couldn't bring herself to recognize any of the voices. She started pacing around the room in a hurry. What was going on? Was she dead? She couldn't make her voice say these petty fears out loud. Cynthia stopped for a moment. Was this heaven? Based on what her Bible said, this was too ordinary to be heaven. No, it wasn't. She wasn't dead. Not yet anyway. Her eyes strained as she looked at the walls. Nothing, just bare and empty. She looked down at the floor and saw that it was white too, and even though she was in her bare feet she couldn't tell if it was carpet or tile. She sighed in frustration. "I would like some answers here!" she shouted pointlessly at the ceiling. What was she expecting? Some angel with golden wings to come down and carry her off to Neverland? She was alone._

_Then, right before her eyes, Jimmy Palmer appeared out of thin air. Cynthia looked at him with wide eyes. At least she wasn't alone anymore. Jimmy looked around. A moment ago, he was surrounded in darkness. Now, he was in a white room, with only a door and Cynthia in it. Suddenly, he remembered being shot and looked down at his leg. No hole in his pants from the bullet._

_"Cynthia, what's going on?" he asked, walking over to her. She was still staring at him with widen eyes. _

_"I don't know. I just got here a few minutes ago myself," she said, reexamining the white room. "Do you think we're dead?"_

_"I hope not, I don't want to be dead," he said, taking a glance at his shoulder with a look of curiosity. "I can't feel any pain anymore." In response Cynthia looked down at her chest. Her shirt wasn't covered in blood anymore; it was pure white, like someone spilled an unessacary about of bleach on it. She placed her hand against where the bullet was and couldn't find the hole. "It's like we weren't even shot," she said in awe._

_Jimmy looked over at the door. "What's behind there?" he asked._

_"Don't know. It's locked," she said, sighing. "If you focus really hard you can hear voices, but nothing else." _

_Jimmy closed his eyes in concentration. "I can't hear anything." he said, looking at her._

_Cynthia shrugged. "Where do you think we are?"_

_Jimmy thought for a moment. "Well, I'm assuming were not dead. We could just be waiting for fate to decide wither we live or not. Maybe behind that door is the ticket back to Earth, since I'm assuming our consciousness isn't" he said, shrugging._

_"Or it could be the door to heaven," Cynthia said._

_"Or hell." Jimmy said quietly. _

_Cynthia looked over at him. "Why do you think you're going to go to hell, Jimmy? You're a good person."_

_"But we don't know what happened to everyone because of what we did. For all we know, they could be lying dead somewhere with their brains shot out."_

_"Jimmy, if they were dying they would be here with us," Cynthia said. "But I don't think we're dying."_

_"Then what are we doing?"_

_"I don't know." Cynthia went and sat down next to the wall. Jimmy sat down next to her. _

_"What do we do know?" he asked. _

_"We wait," Cynthia said, "and see what happens." _

_For a few more minutes they sat in silence. Palmer was tracing circles on the floor with his finger. Cynthia was trying to hear the voices. They were becoming clearer. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She knew there was more than one. Cynthia stood up and looked around. "The voices are getting louder," she said. Jimmy looked at her like she was crazy._

_"What voices?" he asked._

_"You can't hear them?" she asked. The voices were as loud as they were talking. Suddenly, she recognized one. "It's Abby."_

_"Abby? Where are they at?" Jimmy asked, getting up to his feet._

_"Don't know. Hold on a second," she said, motioning for him to be quiet. "Abby's talking to someone," she said, frowning. A few minutes later she snapped her fingers. _

_"She's worried about us. She's asking if the doctor was right."_

_"A doctor? That means were not dead at least," Jimmy said, smiling._

_Cynthia was quiet. "It's Ducky."_

_"Dr. Mallard? What's he doing here?" Jimmy asked._

_"I don't know, I just hear the voices." Cynthia said. "The Director is here, and Agent Gibbs."_

_"Gibbs? Really? I didn't see him as the hospital visiting type," Jimmy said, awe-struck._

_"And Agent David."_

_"Ziva? Wow, a lot of people are here." Jimmy said, amazed._

_Cynthia nodded and turned back to him. Jimmy was looking at her with wide eyes. "What?" she asked._

_"Your- your fading" he said quickly. Cynthia looked down and gasped as she saw that she was fading out. She was almost clear, see through. She watched as her feet disappeared._

_"Cynthia? What's going on?" Jimmy asked. She could barely hear him. The other voices were getting louder. She could barely hear herself talk._

_"It's okay Jimmy. I think I'm going back." she said as her legs disappeared. Jimmy looked horrified. Finally, he smiled. "Say 'hi' for me, okay?"_

_"Sure." She said, giving him a reassuring smile. Now, she could only hear the other voices. She could tell Jimmy was talking, though, because his lips were moving. No words were coming out. The last thing she saw was the look on Jimmy's face as her vision finally faded and she was in the black again._

"Ducky, are you sure the doctor said there going to make it? Because Cynthia isn't waking up, and Jimmy hasn't even moved in the past hour."

"Abby, I'm sure there fine. There still sedated."

"But, but-"

"Abby," a different voice said. "Calm down."

"Yes, sir," she said. Cynthia knew that it had to be Agent Gibbs. No one else was called 'sir' around here.

"I wonder," a new voice said.

"Wonder what, Ziva?" Ducky asked.

"I wonder if we put coffee in the I.V, would they wake up?" Ziva said. "Dose Cynthia drink coffee?"

"Yes, but I don't know what kind. And only Agent Gibbs would wake up if we put coffee in the I.V." Director Sheppard said. Suddenly, there was a beep on a monitor.

"Her pulse is rising back up. She might wake up now," Ducky said.

Cynthia found her eyelids opening and found herself staring up at the ceiling. It was white. Solid white. It reminded her of her dream. She forced herself to sit up and winced at the pain that flowed through her abdomen.

"Take it easy, now," Ducky said, forcing her back down onto the bed.

"I thought I was supposed to be getting pain medication," she joked with him. Ducky smiled. Cynthia looked around him towards everyone else. Abby had tears in her eyes as she ran forward and pushed Ducky out of the way. The older man tripped and almost hit the floor before Ziva extended a hand.

"Cynthia! Your okay! Oh, I was so worried about you! I'm so glad you woke up!" Abby said, hugging Cynthia tight around her middle.

Cynthia felt her chest tightening and she couldn't breathe. "Abby. Need air," she managed to choke out, and Abby let go immediately, murmuring apologies under her breathe as Cynthia inhaled air. She watched as Special Agent Gibbs left the room, murmuring something about 'coffee and the blasted F.B.I," with Ziva following out behind, not before stopping to mouthe a 'thank you' to the wounded assistant. Then it was just Abby, Ducky, and Director Shepard in the room. Cynthia looked over beside her and saw Jimmy lying on the bed, his eyes closed. There was a series of tubes everywhere. "How's he doing?" she asked.

"Okay." Ducky said. "He took two shots. One to the chest, one to the leg. There keeping him sedated till he gets his strength back up." Ducky said. He went over and patted Cynthia on the shoulder. "Sorry to run, but I have quite a large number of autopsies to do," he said, giving her a sad smiled before leaving.

"Yeah. Can I catch a ride with you Duck? I got to get back to the lab to do some tests and the cops confiscated my license while I was driving here," Abby said, embarrassed. Ducky nodded and Abby gave Cynthia another hug -she still couldn't breathe- and left with Ducky.

Now she was left alone in the room with her boss. The awkward situation made her feel tense. She looked over at the wall before looking back at the Director.

"What happened after I went down?" she asked quietly.

The Director smiled. "You want to know?" Cynthia nodded.

"Well, Agent Gibbs shot down the last of the bodyguards and DiNozzo freed everyone else from there bounds. Dr. Mallard checked your vitals and you were going to be fine. After you got shipped off to the hospital, The F.B.I came in and took over our investigation."

"Bet Agent Gibbs didn't like that," she said, smiling.

The Director chuckled. "No, he didn't. But it was Fornell on the case, so I guess he's okay with it now. They identified the man as Jacob Flared, number 4 on the F.B.I's most wanted list. He wanted his files deleted from the database."

After the Director was finished, silence filled the room, besides the beeping of Cynthia and Jimmy's monitors. Cynthia's eyes shifted to Jimmy. "I should have just called the police," she said quietly. The Director heard her.

"What?"

"I should have just called the police, Director. If I had just called the police, then no one would have gotten shot. They would have just came and got you all out of there. Jimmy and I should have just left that morning and called the police, not breaking and entering into a federal office through a window."

"You went through a window?" The Director said. Cynthia could see the look of amusement on the Director's face.

"I had to stand on Jimmy's back in my new heels. He wasn't too happy about that." Cynthia said, smiling. She could hear the Director's soft laughing. "Where is everyone else?" Cynthia found herself asking.

"Tony is down the hall in his own room. He broke an arm or something, I didn't really check, and McGee is harassing the doctor to figure out when you get out of here," Director Shepard said calmly. "I just can't believe how lucky we were that you and Palmer were there to help us. If not, we could all be dead right now," at the word _dead_ Cynthia shivered, "and that how proud I am for what you and Mr. Palmer did. It was a tremendous act of courage on your part." Cynthia blushed. She wasn't used to getting praise from the Director.

"Uh, thank you," she stammered. Director Sheppard smiled. She stood to go when Cynthia finally remembered something.

_"I don't know. I think I'm going back." _

_ "Say 'hi' for me, okay?"_

_"Sure."_

"Director?" Cynthia asked.

The Director turned around. "Yes?"

"Could you, uh....tell Ducky something for me? I didn't get a chance to tell him while he was here," she, almost embarrassed.

"Sure. What's the message?"

Cynthia paused for a second. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but tell Ducky that Jimmy says hi." For a moment, there was silence. Then, to Cynthia's amazement, she merely smiled.

"I'll do that for you. Get better, Cynthia." The Director said. She turned and left, leaving Cynthia alone. A nurse came in and gave her some pain medication. It made her sleepy, and in a few more minutes she was in a peaceful sleep.


End file.
